Local taxi drivers and operators may stage a caravan rally to protest what they call the “unfair” distribution of government fuel subsidies, claiming that unregistered “colorum” tricycles and Transport Network Vehicle Services (TNVS) are being prioritized over legitimate public utility vehicles.
The Samahan ng mga Taxi Drivers sa Bacolod (SMTDB) and the Taxi Operators Negros Occidental Association (TONO) at a press conference on Monday, May 18, called on government to include their 520 members in the fuel subsidy program and assistance from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“Taxis have been operating here in the city of Bacolod for decades…We are the original Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs)—we have franchises, registration papers, city stickers, and business permits to ensure our passengers are safe. Yet, when government programs roll out, taxi drivers are always left hanging in the air”, SMTDB president Ronald Allan Salgado, who read the statement, said.
The statement said while legitimate taxi operators expend heavy resources to maintain strict compliance with legal requirements, a significant portion of the recent fuel subsidies distributed by the LTFRB, DSWD, and the local government went to unregistered, “colorum” tricycles and TNVS units operating with “ghost riders and ghost drivers.”
Salgado recalled a 2017 LTFRB “Drivers Academy” seminar held at the Tangub Gym, where they were promised that completing the traffic law training would guarantee them priority status for future government subsidies.
“But what is happening now is the exact opposite,” the statement read. “Do we taxi drivers not eat? Do we not buy fuel every day? If you think about it, we consume even more fuel daily to sustain our livelihood”, he said.
They thanked Bacolod Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez for providing recent fuel aid from his personal funds, and Mayor Greg Gasataya for distributing rice assistance.
At the same time, they called on DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian a review of the subsidy distribution, asking the agency to hear the grievances of struggling drivers and on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to direct a formal investigation into the rapid “ballooning” of TNVS units in Bacolod, arguing that the city’s localized economy cannot be equated to the high-capacity transport markets of Manila or Cebu City.
While thanking Councilor Dindo Ramos for passing Resolution 365, Series of 2026, which addresses TNVS regulations, the groups stressed that the measure lacks teeth without proper enforcement and called for an immediate public hearing and a dedicated local fuel discount for taxis.*
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